Many of us who were subjected to the missionary christianization of Indigenous America took, or were given the Christian names of early white settlers or ranchers in our areas.  Sometimes we took the name of the missionaries, or were given appropriately "civilized" names by them.  but the article below details how government representatives faced "renaming" a race of People, dealt with the problem...
 
 

Out Of Their Own Mouths

                            NAMING THE INDIANS.
  BY FRANK TERRY, SUPERINTENDENT OF U. S. BOARDING SCHOOL FOR
                          CROW INDIANS, MONTANA.

    “ The system of proper names in vogue in America and in certain of the European states is, as we believe, well devised.   Furthermore…it is practically the only system known to American law, and it is impossible not to see that in all things, prominent among which is the transfer of property or the bequeathing of the same to heirs, trouble must come to those who disregard this system.
      This system …  has aimed to establish among them for the privileges and advantages of American citizenship; The command to give names to the Indians and to establish the same as far as possible by continuous use has been a part of the "Rules and Regulations" for years past.
 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,
Washington, D. C. March 19, 1890.
To Indian Agents and Superintendents of Schools:

      When Indians become citizens of the United States, under the allotment act,
the inheritance of property will be governed by the laws of the respective states, and it will cause needless confusion and  considerable ultimate loss to the Indians if no attempt is made to have the different members of the family known by the same family name on the records and by general reputation.

      There seems, however, no good reason for continuing to substitute English for Indian names, especially when different members of the same family are named with no regard to the family surname.   For convenience, an English "Christian name" may be given and the Indian name be retained as a surname. If the Indian name is unusually long and difficult, it may perhaps be arbitrarily shortened.
      The practice of calling Indians by the English translation of their Indian names also seems  unadvisable. The names thus obtained are usually awkward and uncouth and such as the children when they grow older will dislike  .
       In any event the habit of adopting sobriquets   such as "Tobacco," "Mogul," "Tom," "Pete," etc., by which they become generally known, is unfortunate and should be discontinued. It degrades the Indians, and as he or his children gain in education and culture they will be annoyed by a designation which has been fastened upon them and of which they cannot rid themselves without difficulty.   Hereafter in submitting to this office,  names of Indian employees , all nicknames must be discarded and effort made to ascertain and adopt the actual names or such as should be permanent designations. The names decided upon must be made well known to the respective Indians and the importance of retaining such names must be fully explained to them.
      Of course, sudden change cannot be made in Indian nomenclature; but if agents and school superintendents endeavor to have children and wives known by the names of the fathers and husbands, very great improvement in this respect will be brought about within a few years.

Respectfully, T. J. MORGAN, Commissioner.
 

Dr. W. N. Hailmann,
General Superintendent of Indian Schools

  RULES NOT OBEYED.

      One can contemplate only with pain the extent to which these reasonable requirements of the Indian Office have been disregarded by trusted servants in the field. While some have made earnest efforts to carry out the wishes of the Department, others have treated the matter as one of little or no concern. In many cases no attempt seems ever to have been made to systematize the names of the Indians.
       I direct attention to the records of allotments of lands among the members of the several Indian tribes as proof that officials entrusted  with carrying out  instructions on this subject have been so derelict in this duty that the Indian people are, to-day, a very poorly named race.
       In many cases, long, unpronounceable Indian names have been retained. In others, Indian names have been translated into English with the most unsatisfactory results, "vulgar or otherwise offensive sobriquets" have been countenanced, and a list is produced which should have no place upon local or national record.

      Such Indian agents and superintendents of Indian schools have not sought to impress the Indian people with the importance of having their names fashioned after the whites, consequently they have had in this direction the opposition instead of the co-operation of the Indians. In this thing, as in nearly all others, the Indians do not know what is best for them. They can't see that our system has any advantages over their own, and they have fought stubbornly against the innovation. Furthermore, these officials have not exercised care to discover or select the correct family names, or when selected, have not made sufficient effort to fix those names upon the members of the respective families.

      The rough-and-ready frontiersmen who first came in contact with the Indians and had much to do with the naming of the older generations took no pains to discover and systematize the Indian names. They preferred to rename the whole race with the vulgar translations of the Indian phrases, or with familiar names of the English sort. Nor did they choose genteel names, the sobriquets Sam, Bob, Jim, Pete, Dick, etc., suiting their purpose better.   To this day in many places  the practice of giving these diminutives of English Christian names is allowed. Hence, we find everywhere such names as Harry Sam, Silas Bob, Lissie Pete, Hannah Ned, Maggie Bill, Tommy Jim, Cora Jake, etc…  Throughout the whole Indian service one finds an immense amount of indifference to this question of names.
 

 "DON'T KNOW."

          An incident is reported from the Apache reservation in Arizona. An Indian policeman rode up to the government school and delivered a little boy to the superintendent. "What's his name?" inquired the superintendent. "Des-to-dah," replied the Indian  as he rode away. "Destodah," mused the superintendent. " 'Max' will fit him for a 'first name.'" So the  fellow became "Max Destodah." It turned out, however, that des-to-dah was the Indian word for "don't know" The policeman had simply said he didn't know what the boy's name was.
         In another circumstance, the Navaho Agent was collecting names for enrollment, and a man standing in the line was unable to converse in English.  Unfortunately for the man he covered his embarrassment with a huge grin to which the agent responded by giving him the surname Smiley.  To date the man’s family must bear this name.

        Translations of Indian names, as a rule, have been unsatisfactory, though there are exceptions... Such names as Flying eagle, Pipe-chief, Crazy-horse, Yellow bonnet, Afraid-of-his-enemy, Walk-in-the-water, Rain-in-the-face, Bull-all-the-time, Keeps-his-head-above-water, No-hair-on-his-tail, Bob-tail-wolf-No. 3, Kills the-one-with-the-blue-mark-in-the-centre-of-the-chin, are ridiculous and should not be perpetuated. Such names are uncouth, un-American, and uncivilized.

        Traditional Naming
        As the Indian child grows he commits acts from time to time each of which gives him a new name. For example, he may see a bear and run screaming. The folks all laugh at him, and call him  Runs-from-a-bear. Later on he may become the possessor of an unruly pony which he fears to ride, and becomes known as Afraid-of-his-horse. Or, he may mount a horse from which another Indian has been thrown, and he then is spoken of as Rides-the-horse. Further on he becomes a great hunter and kills five bears, and they call him Five-bears, and when he slays another his name changes to Six-bears. He may perform a valiant deed in battle and ride his horse through the camp of the enemy, for which he is dubbed Charges-through-the-camp. During the conflict he may kill one of the enemy. If his victim is the only one
slain he is called Kills-the-enemy. But if others fall the one he has killed must be described, as Kills-the-one-with-the-big-knee. If he braids in his hair a yellow feather which he has plucked from the tail of an eagle he may be called Eagle-tail, Eagle-feather, Yellow-tail, or Yellow-feather. If he gives it to his friend he will be named Gives-feather, but if he refuses to part with it his name will change to
Keeps-his-feather. Or he may obtain his name from some other object. If he is accustomed to ride what is commonly known as a "calico" horse he may be called Spotted-horse, but if his horse has a short tail he will be known as Bob-tail-horse. The chances are that he will be known by all the foregoing names. His enemies in the tribe will continue to speak of him as Long-ears,  Runs-from-a-bear, or Afraid-of-his-horse, while his friends will call him Rides-the-horse, Six-bears, or Kills-the-enemy. For this reason it occurs that if you speak of the Indian in the presence of certain members of the tribe and call him Six-bears they will laugh at you and say: "That’s not his name; his name is Runs-from-a-bear." But if you speak of him to certain others as Runs-from-a-bear they will scowl and say: "That’s not his name; his is name Kills-the-enemy."

      Following is the complete roll of pupils at the Crow Agency Boarding School, Mont., reported by my predecessor for the quarter ended June 30, 1896:

                                     BOYS.
  Homer Bull-tongue.
  Edson Fire-bear.
  John Adams.
  Frank Hairy-wolf.
  George Washington.
  Lafayette Corner-of-the-mouth
  Tommie Gardner.
  Jimmie Shell-on-the-neck.
  Hartford Bear-claw.
  Hugh Ten-bears.
  Robert Picket.
  Barkley On-the-other-side.
  Percy Stops.
  Walter Young-jack-rabbit.
  Eric Likes-the-horse.
  Eugene Long-ear.
  Antoine No-hair-on-his-tail.
  Moses Comes-in-the-day.
  Joe Kills-with-his-brother.
  Barney One-goose.
  Herbert Old bear.
  Blake White-bear.
  Otto Rides-the-horse.
  Prescott Comes-in-a-day.
  Mortimer Dreamer.
  Albert Chief-child.
  Clinton Fire-bear.
  Harry White-bear.
  Irvie Comes-out-of-fog.
  James G. Blaine Buffalo.
  Levi Yellow-mule.
  Charlie Robbinson.
  Arthur Bay-wolf.
  Henry No-shin-bone.
  Morris Shaffer.
  Howard Yellow-weasel.
  Fletcher Bird-shirt.
  Willie Bends.
  Elmer Takes-a-wrinkle.
  Benamin Hillside.
  Norman Record.
  Portus Keeps-his-feather.
  Lee One-blue-bead.
  Frank Gardner.
  Guy Bad-boy.
  Robert Yellow-tail.
  Charley Record.
  Max Big-man.
  Victor Three-irons.
 

                                     GIRLS.

  Fannie Plenty-butterflies.
  Kittie Medicine-tail.
  Alice Shoots-as-he-goes.
  Maggie Broken-ankle.
  Louisa Three-wolves.
  Helen Comes-out-of-fog.
  Mabel Hunts.
  Mamie Reid.
  Lillian Hunts.
  Louise Enemy-hunter.
  Agnes He-says.
  Ruth Bear-in-the-middle.
  Floy Hairy-wolf.
  Bertha Full-mouth.
  Eva New-bear.
  Lottie Grandmother's-knife.
  Rosa La Forge.
  Jessie Flat-head-woman.
  Sarah Three-irons.
  Anna Wesley.
  Carrie Wallace.
  Mary Old-jack-rabbit.
  Clara Spotted-horse.
  Ida Wrinkle-face.
  Minnie Nods-at-bear.
  Lucy Hawk.
  Anna Medicine-pipe.
  Nellie Shell-on-the-neck.
  Olive Young-heifer.
  Edith Long-ear.
  Susie Leider.
  Isabel Lunch.
  Bessie Crooked-arm.
  Irene Mountain.
  Stella Wolf-house.
  Jennie Wesley.
  Hattie Wallace.
  Esther Knows-his-gun.
  Lena Old-bear.
  Ada Sees-with-his-ear.
  Martha Long-neck.

         Some Indian names, on the other hand, are too long and unpronounceable for practical use. At the
Devil's Lake Agency, North Dakota, they are trying to perpetuate such names as these:
  Sunka ho waste.
  Waanatan.
  Ecanajinka.
  Tiowaste.
  Wiyakamaza.
  Iyayuhamani.
  Wakauhotanina.
  Tunkawwayagnani.
  Wasineasuwmani.
  Eyaupahamani.

      No Christian names are given. And at the Colville Agency, Washington, such names as these:
  Grant On hi.
  Jim Chel quen le.
  Mack Chil sit sa. Tom e o.
  Lot Whist le po som.
  Alex Sin ha sa lock.

      The plan of discarding the Indian names and fitting the Indians out with names that are purely English has not worked well, for those selected in many cases are names illustrious in American history, and this has caused the Indians to become the butt of many a vulgar joke.
       William Penn, Fitzhugh Lee, David B. Hill and William Shakespeare are policemen at the Shoshone Agency, Wyoming. Only a short while ago it was reported that on an Indian reservation in New Mexico William Breckenridge arrested  John G. Carlisle for being drunken and disorderly. It would no doubt surprise the reader, and no less so our Honorable Secretary of the Navy, should I say that I have seen George Washington, John Quincy Adams, Franklin Pierce, Rip an Winkle, and Hillary Herbert engaged together in a game of shinney. Yet this interesting spectacle I have gazed upon; and I have been the enforced witness to a severe spanking administered to James G. Blaine.
 
 

                          OVERNAMED.

      Furthermore, faulty as the names of the old Indians are, the bad matter is rendered much worse when the off-reservation schools take it into their hands to rename the children that come in with names entirely different from those of the parents. In 1893 seven girls went from the Crow reservation to the industrial
training school at Fort Shaw, Montana. In the first column below are the names of the girls when on the reservation; in the second column are the names recognized at Fort Shaw school:
  Clara Bull-knows. Clara Harrison.
  Beatrice Beads-on-ankle. Beatrice B. Hail.
  Katie Dreamer. (No change.)
  Lilian Bull-all-the-time. Lilian Bomfort (intended for Bompard).
  Susie Bear-lays-down-plenty (alias Crow). Susie Folsom.
  Minnie Reed. (No change.)
  Blanche Little-star. Blanche Brown.

      I think no one will question that the names given the girls by the able and successful superintendent of Fort Shaw are better than the reservation names. It is also a satisfaction to know there are men in the Indian service who have correct tastes in this matter. But it should be borne in mind continually that tampering with their names will yet cause these children endless litigation, perhaps loss, when the question of inheritance of property comes up. When old Bull-all-the-time dies Lilian Bomfort must convince the court that she is his daughter and entitled to his land. The fact that she does not bear his name takes away the strongest evidence in her favor. The fact that at any time previous to marriage she bore any other name than his will at least complicate the case. Changes of names should originate on the reservations. The parents' names should be revised first…

         I shall not trespass upon the patience of the reader by relating all the discoveries and changes made. Enough have been given to show the painstaking necessary to the performance of this work, and to establish the claim that great negligence and indifference have been shown this very important subject. What is true on the Klamath reservation is true on nearly all reservations. I have said that one contemplates this with pain. One is astonished that men supposed to be intelligent, earnest, and honest, should treat a matter so grave with such unconcerned attention…  … and knowing that the subject was of great moment, should commit, or stand idly by and allow, this careless trifling with the nomenclature of a great race like the aborigines of this Continent.